OREANDA-NEWS. According to the BBC Broadcasting Corporation on Friday, a resident of Newport, Wales, UK, who accidentally threw away a £ 210 million (roughly $ 287 million) hard drive containing bitcoins at current exchange rates, wants to find it in the city landfill and transfer 25% of the value of the cryptocurrency (about $ 71.5 million) to the local fund to fight coronavirus.

According to the agency, in 2009 Howels bought 7.5 thousand bitcoins for almost nothing. In 2013, during a general office cleaning, he accidentally threw away the hard drive on which the cryptocurrency was stored. At that moment, the value of his bitcoins reached $ 7.5 million.

Howells said he repeatedly approached Newport authorities for permission to search for the hard drive, but was denied each time. Now he has announced that he is ready to raise his offer to 25%. "At the current exchange rate, this is about £ 52.5 million, and I would like to donate them to a fund to fight coronavirus for Newport residents," Howells said.

The administration has repeatedly informed him that the search is not possible because it is limited by the terms of its license and the excavation will significantly affect the environment of the surrounding areas. The cost of excavating at the landfill and other work will cost several million pounds, and there is no guarantee that the disk will be found and will work.

The Briton said that he had already found those who agreed to help him in the excavation at the dump for a reward in the form of a part of the cryptocurrency from the disk.